Apparatus for preserving fruit.



No. 678,537. Patented luly l6, I90l. J. D. BUTLER.

APPARATUS FOR PBESERVING FRUIT.

- (Application filed. Mm. 2a, 1901. (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

No. 678,537. Patented July l6, I901. J. D. BUTLER.

APPARATUS FOR PRESERVING FRUIT.

(Application filed Max. 23, mm.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

d Af/omey JOHN D. BUTLER, OF DUNN, NORTH CAROLINA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALFTO ERNEST F. YOUNG, OF SAME PLACE.

APPARATUS FOR PRESERVING FRUIT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 678,537, dated July1901- A lication filed March 23, 1901. Serial No. 62,614. (No model.)

T0 at whom; it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN D. BUTLER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Dunn, in the county of Harnett and State of North Carolina,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus forPreserving Fruit; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters ofreference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in apparatus forfumigating and preserving fruit; and it consists in the provision of abox or cabinet, in which is mounted a drawer or door in the lowerportion thereof, which carries a fumigating-dish, and superimposed abovethe drawer or door in the cabinet is a series of trays, which are ofpeculiar construction, having bottoms of gauze and spaces intermediatesame and at the ends of the receptacle whereby the fumes may rise andcirculate through the trays and spaces at the sides thereof from onetray to another, thus thoroughly treating the fruit of the Varioustrays.

The invention will be hereinafter more fully described and thenspecifically defined in the appended claim, and is clearly illustratedin the accompanying drawings, which form part of this application, andin which drawings similar letters of reference indicate like partsthroughout the several views,in which- Figure 1 is a vertical transversesection through my improved cabinet and series of trays held therein.Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail view of one of the trays in perspective.Fig. 3 is an end elevation of a tray; and Fig. 4; is a modificationshowing the cabinet with a tray embodying features of my invention,together with a rotary cylinder in which the fruit may be held andagitated by rotating the cylinder.

\ Reference now being had to the details of the drawings by letter, Adesignates the box or cabinet portion, which has a drawer or door B inthe lower end thereof. Located at any suitable place within saiddrawer'or door and secured thereto is a dish O, of metal or othermaterial, in which the fumigating materials are held while being burnedfor the purpose of giving off the fumes which serve to preserve thefruit. Mounted upon cleats D on the opposite longitudinal inner walls ofthe cabinet is a tray comprising the longitudinal side pieces E, whichare connected by trans verse strips F. These strips F are substantiallyone-half the width of the longitudinal side pieces E, as shown clearlyin the end View of the tray, and intermediate the inner cross-pieces Fis left a space through which the fumes are allowed to pass as they risefrom the fumigating-receptacle beneath. It will be observed that theupper edges of the longitudinal side pieces are projected beyond theouter faces of the end cross-pieces F, thus leaving a space at each endof the tray between the end cross pieces and the inner faces of the endwalls of the cabinet, through which spaces the fumes are allowed to passfrom one tray to another. These projecting ends E of the longitudinalside pieces of the trays also serve as handles, whereby the tray may beeasily removed from the cabinet. Between the two pairs of cross-pieces Fare secured the screen-bottoms H, thus forming receptacles in which thefruit to be treated is placed. In practice it is my purpose to utilize aseries of these trays similarly constructed, which are adapted to besuperimposed on one another in the manner shown in the drawings, thelower tray resting upon the cleats, as described, while the oneimmediately above rests upon the upper edges of the longitudinal sidesof the tray, and when a plurality of these trays are superimposed itwill be observed that there will be ample spaces both between thecompartments of each tray and between the ends of the trays and theinner faces of the ends of the cabinet, as well as between each tray,whereby the fumes rising from beneath are allowed to circulate freely upthrough the gauze bottoms as well as about and over the tops of thereceptacles holding the fruit.

The top of the cabinet is provided with a hinged lid or cover K, wherebyaccess may ,be had to the interior of the cabinet for the purpose ofadjusting the trays within the cabinet or removing same.

In Fig. 4 of the drawings I have shown a slight modification, in which,in connection with the stationary trays, a rotary cylindrical receptacleis utilized, which is mounted in suitable hearings in the endsof thecabinet adjacent to its upper portion, and which may contain the fruitwhich it is desired to agitate by the rotation of the cylinder duringthe preserving process. v

Having thus described my invention, what I claim to be new, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is

An apparatus for preserving fruit, compris secured to the opposite innerwalls of said casing, a series of superimposed trays supported by saidcleats, each tray having lon gitudinal sides with projecting handles E,the partitions F with spaces intervening between their upper margins andthe upper edges of the longitudinal sides of the trays, an open spaceintervening between the inner of said partitions, and netting bottomsbetween each outer and inner partition, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my 30 signature in presence of twowitnesses.

JOHN D. BUTLER.

Witnesses:

A. L. HOUGH, FRANKLIN H. HOUGH.

